Tales of Harmonia
by Mia Aulair
Summary: Multiverse The peace of the Empire is broken after a strange sequence of events. A certain commandant comes into contact with those he thought he had bid goodbye to forever. A story that proves no matter how far or fast we run, we can't outrun the past.
1. Prologue

I don't own Vesperia, Abyss, or any other series used in this fic.

There will be many crossovers.

That is all.

* * *

_Tales of Harmonia, Book One: Commandant_

_Load 1.0: Prologue_

* * *

"Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title"-_Virginia Woolf_

* * *

The sun cast its rays over Zaphias, bathing the city in a golden light. It was twiligfht and the citizens of the Empire were finishing up their daily routine. Even without the blastia, humanity prospered; certain sects were fairing better than others: The Lower Quarter of the capital city, for example, was able to bounce back rather quickly after the events atop Tarqaquon. Some placed the blame for this phenomenon on the hero of the Lower Quarter, Yuri Lowell, but others thought the adaptation was due to the fact that the Lower Quarter used blastia less in the first place, bringing less change to their everyday lives. The latter may have been more true as, without a doubt, the Upper Quarter was having a great deal of trouble compromising. It was for this reason that by the time he got back to his room in the castle, a certain blonde commandant was too tired to move.

Flynn Scifo rested his head on the desk as he sat in his chair. He had just gotten back from the Upper Quarter, where yet another fight had broken out. Two nobles had quarreled over possession of a sword, a simple sword; although the weapon had rightly belonged to one (and it was evident it had), another noble thought because he had a higher rank and a closer relationship to the royal family it was his 'birthright.'

_A simple sword_, Flynn mused, _society is about to crumble because of a stupid sword._

Of course, being raised among the nobility his entire life; the knight had grown quite used to pointless bickering. However, not even he could have seen the reason for fighting for something so trivial. It was because he was a knight and adequately trained in combat that he had the capability to defend himself (Of course, the journeying hadn't hurt either). The commandant could only fathom that the fighting was brought about by unrest for the noble's own safety; without barriers, the city was no longer protected from monsters. Outright, the civilians thought that this meant that monsters could attack at any moment. In truth, this seldom happened. Most attacks on cities by monsters happened when the monsters were either agitated by people living in the city or when the monsters' food supply was running low. This had been the cause of several attacks before, but this seldom happened unless outside forces intervened.

But, citizens would continue to fear the attacks and some, the Upper Quarter especially, were hesitant to learn to defend themselves. It was his duty as commandant to help prepare the knights to deal with this, for his presence to inspire those around him.

It had been so much easier when he was a servant.

Sighing, he moved his hand over a hidden button under his desk. The device was ingenious: Something he had made years ago while studying machinery. It was programmed to only respond to an energy signature. Because the device recognized the energy emitted by fonons and not aer particles, it was not affected by the happenings of two years ago, nor did it respond to anyone else inside the castle. After a small beep, the device clicked, opening a hidden compartment.

The hidden drawer slid open. The commandant lowered his hand, fingering the small slip of paper inside. Lifting the picture up to his face, he couldn't help but grin. In his hands was a memory he cherished more than anything, a memory of a distant star. In the left most corner, he cowered from an angry princess and small black-haired girl who were advancing on him. He had attempted to break up one of their many fights (This one over who would make dinner for the evening), and in the process directed their anger toward himself. To the right of them was a couple, standing awkwardly. They hadn't yet confessed their love, but everyone else in the group knew, down to the cheagle. They stared at each other, ignorant of the fight between the other members of the group. On the right side of the picture stood a man, no older than 35, with a regal posture. His face snickered as he watched the fight, neglecting to help sort it out. Unfortunately, the small blue animal hadn't been in this picture, as he had been the one who accidentally took it when looking for an apple in the item bag. How he had managed this, the blonde young man had never figured out.

This was the only group photo they had taken. There were several individual pictures, but the machine had been in the testing phase and he didn't want to place too much of a load on it. They were going to take a group picture once it was all over but…

Not all of them were there.

The noble redhead hadn't returned. He'd promised all of them, but he still hadn't come home. However, that hadn't meant they'd given up. It was quite the contrary: She still waited for him. Every day, she waited for him. The commandant had waited with her once too. Up until the day they all were separated, he'd waited. But, one day, their group fell apart. He hadn't heard from any of them since.

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he prayed that one day the fight he was called to stop in the Upper Quarter would have been caused by Luke antagonizing another noble. Somewhere in his mind he prayed that at one of the countless balls he was now forced to attend, he'd see Natalia in a radiant blue gown. Someday he hoped that the hymn he heard would no longer just be in his dreams.

But, there was no point in looking back. This had all been when he was Guy. Guy the servant, Guy the noble, Guy the friend. All of these personas had receded deep into his heart when he came to Terca Lumireis.

Because on the day he arrived, he became Flynn.

Not that there was anything wrong with being Flynn. It was quite the contrary, actually. Flynn was the noblest of all knights. Flynn had obtained the title of commandant, though popular belief was that he was raised in the Lower Quarter. Flynn didn't shy away when girls came near.

Except, on those rare instances, where he would stand a little bit farther away from Sodia than she would've liked.

Still, Flynn was Flynn and Guy was Guy. They weren't dissimilar, they both held strong convictions and comparable personal beliefs. It was because of this that the two personas could so easily reside in the same body. But, when all was said and done, they had their differences as well.

A knock on the door startled the knight out of his thoughts. A muffled voice could be heard through the door, asking him to come to the meeting room momentarily because important issues had arisen. Sighing, Guy placed the photo back in the compartment before joining Sodia in the hallway.

* * *

"Commandant," Sodia spoke, while flipping through an official looking document, "More aer anomalies are occurring. We've received word from the rebuilt Aspio that, by their calculations, aer is still fluctuating in many places where it should be stable. In addition, we're receiving several reports of odd occurrences that shouldn't be possible without the use of blastia."

Flynn turned his head to face his young subordinate as they walked through the hallway, "What kind of 'odd occurrences'?"

Sodia flipped through a few more pages in the report before answering, "Sir, it is not only the people from Aspio reporting. People around the world have claimed to see arte users. There have been cases of high level fire spells used against monsters in the Quoi woods. This was the supposed cause of a large-scale forest fire that threatened Deidon Hold several weeks back. Similarly, a woman in Capua Torim claims to have seen a merchant using an ice arte to freeze some of his food to keep it fresh. According to Witcher, these acts should be impossible without the use of blastia and…"

"The use of blastia should be impossible without cores," Flynn finished. "It's been said again and again. If it's not blastia causing the phenomena, then what is?"

Sodia flipped through her report once more, "That's the crux, sir. We don't know. Witcher's presently in Aspio doing research on any possible method of using blastia without cores, but there's been no success."

"Well, if the researchers at Aspio have had such little luck, then it means no one will be able to illegally use blastia. Still, we've had several reports of confiscated blastia being stolen recently. I hope Schwann's making more progress in Dahngrest with this case", the commandant said as he and his partner entered the meeting room.

Had he known what was about to unfold, he wouldn't have spoken those words so lightly.

* * *

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

Okay so, Chappie 1 is done. _Squee._

This has been laying on my computer for a couple of months, yet I had no motivation to finish it. It was college application time. 'Nuff said. Fortunately, as a senior, I have one precious resource now that I had little of before: Free time. Expect more updates. And crossovers. And pocky.

At any rate, I am disappointed by the end of this chapter. But that's okay, because the series is now online.

Remember to review, for the first review gets…FREE CHEAGLE FOOD FOR A MONTH~


	2. Chapter One

So, um, yeah. Hi there. Been a long time, hasn't it?

I've grown out of liking long author's notes as of late, but I figured that this deserved it.

Truth be told, I never had any plans of scrapping this story, although I lacked the motivation to work on it for the longest time. When I wrote the prologue, I was getting out an idea that had been in my head for awhile, procrastinating on some college apps. A year later, I'm still trying to get this story out of my head, although now I'm procrastinating on some college studying. Well, that's not exactly true. I planned to write out this story for Nano, but, unfortunately, I encountered an unforeseen obstacle (Also known as a severe drop in my physics grade.) I'm a few days behind, and while I won't finish before the end of November, I will reach 50,000 words. In fact, this story, without the prologue, already ranks up 36,000. (Approximately 23,000 for the main plot and 13,000 for a collection of side stories that are very _very _related). I plan to end the first arc around 50,000, although that might change. I do, however, have the rest of the first arc mapped out (missing a few very minor details), so, I promise, no more year-long delays.

In the meantime, enjoy this very nice "Chapter-A-Day" setup. Chapters one through six are already finished, and chapters seven and eight will probably be at least mostly done before chapter six is posted. The first "arc" should probably end somewhere around eight or nine, although that's still really unsure at this time. It will be finished, however.

So, without further adieu, I say "I don't own Tales series, nor do I own Golden Sun. They are the property of their respective owners, and all characters, settings, etc. are their property."

Happy reading.

Sincerely,

Mia Aulair.

* * *

_Tales of Harmonia, Book One: Commandant_

_Load 2.0: Festival_

* * *

_"Calm continueth not long without a storm."-Unknown Source, 1576_

_

* * *

_

Anise couldn't get to sleep.

It was late. And dark. And cold. By all accounts, she should have been able to get to sleep.

But, for some reason, she couldn't. It wasn't as if she had anything particularly heavy weighing on her conscious. Unlike many of the other members of Leviathan's Claw, she seldom took missions. And, when she did, she made it a point to never take a mission that required the taking of someone's life. Actually, that was a lie. She didn't avoid those missions. Rather, Yeager forbid any of his "daughters" from taking any such missions.

Not that she'd complain. Though he'd never admit it, Jade had also wished the same. Despite the fact that she _was _a soldier and, dammit, she'd _fight _for Florian if she needed to.

Where was Florian now? Was he doing okay?

The last time she'd seen him, he'd had the mentality of a ten-year-old child. That wasn't terrible, seeing as, technically, he'd only been four years old at the time. It was really amazing though. His innocence, it was just…

With everything she'd been through, she couldn't make such a claim anymore, although that was hardly a surprise, considering that she was partly in charge of an assassin's guild. It had been really hard, at first, to keep running the guild after Yeager's death. However, somehow her and Gauche and Droite, her surrogate sisters, had managed to gather enough resources to keep it running down-low for awhile. They'd tried to clean up their clientele a bit, eventually declining most assassination missions (those that did make it through were of some warrant. I.e. a thief who had been terrorizing a village, a corrupt ruler of an area, etc.) The worst part about rebuilding the guild had by far been restarting without their most precious resources. They'd done it, though. Somehow.

Of course, now with everything happening with the empire, things had become harder again. Not nearly as hard as starting up, or the time directly after the cease of the blastia, but still…things looked to be taking a turn for the worse.

Apparently, people with "magic" had been sighted. She'd yet to see any of these sightings for herself, but this looked to be really disturbing.

Especially because the blastia were supposed to be gone. No more. This could turn to social anarchy and eventually…

At that moment, Anise decided what she wanted more than anything was a glass of water. With a heavy sigh, she lifted herself out of bed and walked down the hallway before descending the stairs to the kitchen. She motioned to several night guards as she passed, trying to keep from disturbing any of the others on guard that night.

She settled into the kitchen table, taking a nice gulp of the glass of water. It had been exactly what she needed.

"C'mon, Estelle, hurry up!" The raven-haired young man waved a hand, indicating his position to his traveling companion.

A high, effeminate voice could be heard from the top of the stairs. "Yuri, wait up I'm almost the-ah! Oh!"

"Estelle!" The pink-haired princess stumbled her way down the last several steps, eventually falling forward to the ground. Fortunately, Yuri was quick enough on his feet to beat her to the ground, so that she landed squarely in his arms. The princess began to blush like mad, and, although he wouldn't admit it, Yuri was blushing a fair bit, too. On the inside, of course.

"Be more careful, alright?" He lightly restored the princess to her feet. They were an odd couple, to be sure. Although they stood at roughly the same height, their demeanors seemed to foil each other. She had her pink hair cropped short, today done up in a bun. Her stance was regal, and every step seemed poise. Despite the fact that her manners could sometimes be…lacking, most of these instances occurred with a pout of the cheek, or an impish gesture.

He, on the other hand, stood slightly taller. His clothes seemed more torn, and his eyes far less innocent. His raven hair hung down to his back, barely brushing against the sword that was clamped to his belt. His steps were far less poised, but, although they appeared relaxed, were far to regular to be anything but calculated. But, as much as their personalities seemed to clash, both of their eyes gleamed with hope of the future. Perhaps this was what attracted them to one another?

It was hard to say. At any rate, the odd couple stayed chatting for a moment before exiting the inn and emerging onto the busy street.

"Isn't it amazing Yuri!" Estelle exclaimed. Everywhere on the street, people were bouncing. There were too many booths to count, as everyone from commoners to the richest nobles mingled in the market place. It had been nearly two years since they had destroyed the Adephagos, and the capital was in full swing.

Of course, the corronation of the heir of the imperial throne was nothing to scoff at.

Granted, Estelle had felt a little guilty at first for giving up her position. After a certain point, though, she had to question how much she'd wanted it. Granted, it had been her birthright, but, so many things would have seemed off if she'd have taken it. She would have had to stay in the capital, and, most of all, she wouldn't have Yuri.

There were the nights where she missed staying in the castle, but she enjoyed her, no _their_, tiny cottage in Halure more than many nobles of her stance would believe. It wasn't luxurious, that was for sure, but it felt much more homey than the castle had ever been. She could write in peace on her nice wooden desk, cleanly tucked away in the corner of their room. The princess (although now only in title) made a point to do so every night. In fact, sometimes, she'd even doze off when writing. Yuri pretended not to notice it (he tried to refute her claims that she could write best at night), but on more than one occasion, she's woken up with a blanket wrapped firmly around her shoulders.

That, she realized, had to be contentment.

And now, she walked, with the man she adored down the crowded street, their arms interlocked. They could pass for a normal couple. Not an ex-princess and ex-soldier, not the people who saved the world, just a run-of-the-mill young couple in love.

She had been so caught up in her musings that she hadn't heard her stomach rumbling. Yuri, however, did.

"Did you eat breakfast this morning?" He gave her a stern look. Dammit, couldn't that girl take care of her own health.

Estelle frowned, thinking to herself, "Well, I was finishing up that chapter I fell asleep writing last night and…"

"Isn't that the same reason you skipped dinner yesterday?"

"Well, now that you mention it…but, oh! I had just gotten to the most magnificent fight scene! The two parties had met at the aerie of a large lighthouse and-!"

"What about lunch?"

"Hmm…oh! Lunch was when I was finishing up the desert scene! I managed to tie it in neatly though and…"

"Estelle. When was the last time you ate?"

"Oh. Um. Well…" Estelle trailed off, a little nervous, "I'm not exactly sure."

Yuri facepalmed, stopping for a moment. "Dammit. Estelle. You need to take better care of your health. Just because somebody tell you that you need to, you still need to make time to eat."

"Oh, well, why we're here, why don't we check out one of the many booths! That looks like it'd be pretty good!" Estelle pointed to a silver-haired vendor handing out frozen ice at one of the stands on the side. A small crowd of children had gathered, eagerly eating their treats.

"But that's not food and…" Estelle's pouting stopped him in his tracks. He likely wasn't going to be able to win this one. "Fine. But, we're definitely eating together tonight. A nice, three course meal, okay?"

"Thanks Yuri!"

The commandant looked up once again from his copy of the Wonder Log. Granted, he had been told that it might have been a boring mission, and he couldn't imagine why it wasn't assigned to one of the lower ranking soldiers (Possibly because this was the first _concrete_ lead that they had gotten on somebody using magic after the fall of the blastia, the previous leads had all been iffy), but he put up with it none the less.

But why was it so hot? It should have been a feeling that he was used to, his armor did have a tendency to heat up quickly in the castle, but at least Mordio's steam machine's made it _cool_. Even under the shade of his umbrella, he could still feel the sun's rays around him. Granted, the black spandex leggings did little to help. Lorelei help him if he'd decided to go with the black shirt. It was refreshing, though, to be wearing his servant's uniform after so long. It was rare he got a chance to do such, and an undercover mission made the perfect excuse.

Or, at least, would have made the perfect excuse if that's what this was.

Truth be told, he was spying on a vendor. A _street_ vendor, of all things. And, according to the people who had talked to him, the guy had come from so far out of town that he probably didn't know the _name _of the commandant of the Imperial army, much less what he looked like. And, thankfully, few other people recognized him either. He did get the occasional glance from somebody in the lower quarter that he'd spent a large amount of time with, but even the people who knew his face were less than apt to recognize him in a situation like this. After all, who would expect that the commandant was the one in the booth next to theirs, especially when such an important day was fastly approaching. He should be in the castle, right? And, it wasn't as if he was in his armor. Nobody would be looking. Nobody would recognize him.

Except for a certain small, black-haired teenager.

He'd been so caught up in observing the small stand that he hadn't seen her creep up behind him. The shock was so great that he nearly jumped out of his chair when he felt the hand on his shoulder. Very uncommandant-like. Very good for the disguise.

"Hee hee! Got you~~!" The attacker smiled under her straw sun cap. Her hair, normally in pigtails, was let down today. Coupled with her white sundress, she looked like your run-of-the mill, sweet girl. Very cute. Very out of character.

"Geez, Anise. Do you insist upon doing that _every time _you see me! I thought we'd been over this!"

The small girl pouted as she dropped to her knees and plopped her elbows on the table so that they were at eye level. "Booooooo. Don't be like that. Besiiiides," she grinned mischeviously, "it's not like we've seen each other in months~! I have to give a fair amount of payback, don't I?"

Flynn frowned. "What do you mean by payback? And, isn't it a bad idea for the head of an assassin's guild to be found vacationing in the imperial capital?"

Anise puffed her cheeks in exasperation, flailing her arms. "Meanie! We aren't an assassin's guild! We just specialize in weapons!"

"Okay, okay!" Flynn waved his hands in a defensive pose. "But, seriously, what are you doing here?"

The small girl grinned once more, "Hee, hee~! The same reason, you're here, silly~! To see the mage~!"

The commandant frowned to himself. Hadn't that been priveledged information? Were the cracks in the security network of the empire really that big? "Have you had any luck, then!"

Anise sighed, shugging her shoulders in exasperation. "Yes and no. There's something up, alright. I saw it. There was something he was doing, all right. He was forming ice out of thin air! I mean, that's not normal, right! But…" She trailed off, her eyes glancing to the side.

"But what?" Flynn frowned. If he was really using some form of magic, than wouldn't both his and her investigations be a success?

"But it definitely wasn't fonons. Definitely." She sighed, about to say something else when a high pitched voice interrupted their conversation.

"Flynn!"

"Hee hee~! Well, I guess it's time for me to go, then~!" She stood up, making a move to tackle him before turning back to face him one last time, "I'll let you know if I find anything, okay~! Be careful~!" With that, she turned back around, and skipped down the street, the most cheerful seventeen year-old she ever was.

Flynn felt like face palming himself. Since they'd been split up years ago, Anise was the only fellow member of the group he'd been able to locate. And, it wasn't as if that was even saying that much. After all, they were on what were, most of the times, different sides of the same conflict. Not to mention, of _all _the guilds to wind up in, why an _assassin's _guild of all things? Granted, he'd seen the reports, her and her…sisters, were they?...were doing a fairly decent job of cleaning up the guild, but still. And it wasn't as if it was doing wonders for her _or _him to be associating with each other.

Then again, they didn't talk that much. It did pique his interest, however, that she was spending time devoting her research to _fonons_ of all things. It did make sense, though. Could it be that she was looking for a way back home? While he was the first to say that the idea had come across his mind many times, he hadn't thought about these "magic" sightings being related to fonons. Not that any he'd come across were. But, maybe if he could find someone who was then…

His train of thought was once again interrupted as a hand shot down on the table, raven hair soon following it.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the great commandant himself. What brings you down this way, Flynn?" His childhood friend grinned.

Flynn sighed again. Glancing at the paper once again. "An undercover mission. Nothing you need to concern yourself with."

"Really now? The Empire's gone so far as to suspect spies in carnival booths, now, have they? Those masks do look really threatening!"

"Yuri!" That last comment had earned him a less-than-light punch on the arm by his traveling companion.

As the ravenette rubbed his sore arm, the pink-haired girl turned to face Flynn.

"Flynn! It's lovely to see you again."

"It's nice to see you again, as well, your highness. I trust Yuri's been treating you well?"

"Hey! Don't give me that! She's the one who!" Cue another punch.

"As well as ever~! But, is what you said really true? Are you really here on an undercover mission?" Estelle looked slightly concerned. Although it was true she was no longer in line for the throne, she still cared deeply for her people. And that meant, obviously, that if she thought there was a dangerous criminal running around at such a fair, she would be concerned (Not to mention that Yuri was the type who was apt to start a fight in town if he thought something was wrong. And Yuri was very strong, but that didn't mean he wouldn't get hurt. And Yuri getting hurt was the last thing Estelle would want.)

"Yes." Estelle's facial expression dropped several notches upon hearing this. "What is it? Nothing dangerous, right?"

"No, no" Flynn waved off her idea. "Just a…sighting. That's all."

"A sighting?"

"Apparently, people have been seen using…supposedly, people using Artes, which, well…"

"Should be impossible without blastia." Yuri finished.

"Exactly."

"Um…you don't think…maybe somebody else with the powers of the Child of the Full Moon?"

Yuri frowned. She had gotten into enough trouble with her powers as is, he didn't want to think what would happen if somebody else like that was also on the loose. Not to mention that, there was no telling just how she would be affected either. Yuri knew that she was reluctant to say it, but, truth be told, she still did have access to her artes after the fall of the blastia. She was hesitant to use them, after what had happened before (not to mention countless warnings from Mordio that they weren't sure just how stable this "mana" was), but she still had access. He'd seen her healing animals before, although he wouldn't let her know that he knew, and he was very suspicious about the last time he'd suddenly gotten better after that bad bout with the flu.

"There's no way, Estelle. Judith and Ba'ul would've known way before now? Besides, you think Rita'd miss a chance to study that?" Yuri put an arm around Estelle's shoulder reassuringly. She felt guilty about her powers over all else.

"Yuri's right Estelle. It's definitely not that. Which brings up the question of, what exactly _is _causing it."

"Which is why the Empire sent it's highest ranking soldier to spy on a booth at the fair."

Smack. Flynn had finally lost it. "Be quiet, Yuri. Besides, this is the best lead we've gotten yet and…"

"Hey! Thief!"

The trio's hushed conversation had been suddenly interrupted. Yuri and Estelle turned to see the cause of the commotion just in time to see the silver-haired vendor who had sold Estelle the shaved ice jump over his stand and pursue his target into the crowd. Flynn wasted no time slamming his copy of the "Wonder Log" down on the table and jumping up in pursuit of the duo. Yuri and Estelle exchanged a glance for a moment before following suit.

Flynn waved his way through the crowd of people, desperately trying to keep track of his target. By the time he'd finally rounded the last corner, he'd crossed half of Zaphias to meet with…

A dead end. Well, this was lovely. Their only lead, gone up in smoke.

"'S not here, huh?" And to top it off, Yuri and Estelle had followed him.

"No. He must have taken another side path."

"But, I could have sworn he went this way, don't you think so, Yuri?"

"Actually, Estelle, I was just following Flynn. But, yeah, I thought I did see a streak of silver duck down this way."

"I suppose it's a dead end for today, then. I should hurry back to the castle. The ceremony is tomorrow, and I'm serving as head guard."

"Good luck, Flynn. And hey, be safe!" Yuri waved as he walked away, Estelle also saying her farewells. It was going to be a long night, the commandant could tell.


	3. Chapter Two

So, uh...Yeah. Two years is a long time, right?

I'd really like to say I have an excuse but...my computer crashed and I lost all the files anyway and then I realized it wasn't going in the direction I wanted with the story anyway...so yeah. But! I have since remedied the problem and I like this direction better and I know it's two years, but, I think the story will be the worth the wait. Maybe. At least it won't be Tales of Harmonia: Forever, I promise you that.

Oh! And, uh, I had to make storyline changes because of the new direction, but they don't really have bearing on the previous chapters. However, I have since edited the other chapters (really I just replaced a few words with one word, but if you read this chapter, the change should be pretty obvious. I have a little more to say, but that comes at the end.

*I don't own Tales or whatever but if I did I wouldn't hate money. I'm not Bamco.

Anyway...

Onward!

* * *

_Tales of Harmonia, Book One: Commandant_

_Load 3.0: Questions_

* * *

_"Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies." -Oliver Goldsmith_

* * *

"Now, tell us what you know, and nobody gets hurt," the small girl's sing-song voice rang throughout the room. It's not that she meant to be this threatening...no, wait, she did. Even if her guild no longer dealt in shady business deals (mostly), and had given up on assassination jobs altogether, her guild's name still struck terror and fear in all of those across Terca Lumereis!

"No."

At least, it worked most of the time. Anise eyed the merchant strangely. He didn't seem to be affected in the least! Didn't he know that Leviathan's Claw was a guild to be feared! Well, it probably didn't help that she _was _honestly trying to improve Leviathan's Claw's reputation. But, upon looking the merchant over again, he _did _seem to be from out of town. If he really was a magic user of some sort, he would have to come from another world, so it would make sense if he didn't know anything about the guilds.

But, that didn't change the fact she needed information.

"C'mon, don't be like that~! Give me the information or else," Anise changed her voice from the happy sing-song tone she'd been using for the interrogation for a more...threatening tone. Unfortunately, "threatening," was a relative term, and certainly one that would be hard to describe a sixteen year-old girl.

"Again, no." The stupid, twenty-something vendor was really starting to wear on her patience quickly. How could any man resist this much threatening charm?

"Why not?" She would resort to fake tears if she had to. Maybe he'd respond to the helpless guild leader?

"Because those are empty threats." He spoke short and quickly, making it difficult to form a rebuttal.

"And how do you know?" Back to the threatening face. It wasn't that Anise wore her emotions on her sleeve—often—just that she was an excellent actor. The Colonel had taught her well, and the first thing he had taught her was to never show your enemy your weakness. Underneath the myriad of masks, Anise was probably more battle-hardened and had been through more than most would believe, but she didn't show it. She was the cheery happy girl who had been eager to take after Papa when the guild fell.

The silver-haired man cleared his throat before he spoke, "Leviathan's Claw; formed approximately fifty years ago by Wilheim von Strauss. Strauss, ever the warrior, decided to found a guild so that he could share his love of weapons with others. Although the guild started small, they soon gathered a large following, and became one of the great five. When Straus died, the guild went to his son, Yeager, who had been a soldier in the Great War. However, soon after Yeager's takeover, things began to change within the guild. The guild was signing fewer and fewer weapons contracts, but still managed to make a decent profit with questionable work on the side. During this time, the guild was responsible for hundreds of deaths from the shadows. When Yeager died one year ago, the leadership went to his foster daughters, Elize and Anise, who I'm presuming is you. After the second change in leadership, the illicit operations stopped abruptly. The new leaders are thought to be cleaning up the guild. Killing, or torturing, the people you're interrogating would be very bad for that image, don't you think?"

Anise, more than anything at the moment, wanted to wipe the smirk off that vender's bratty little—but, no, that would be immature. She would conduct her guild maturely, and they would clean up their image. But, dammit! How had he seen through it all?

She'd thought he been from another world, but if that was the case, why did he have encyclopedic knowledge of the guilds? _No_, she thought_, that would make more sense. If he was a mage from another world, he'd probably be extra careful to learn more about the world he came to. If he didn't, it would even more odd and out of place, and he'd likely get caught quickly. Then, could this be considered as proof—_

"Hey," her thoughts were interrupted by the vendor. "Can I leave?" Last nerve.

"If you hand over the information, you're free to go!" She chirped. The sooner she got done talking with this guy, the better.

"Or, I could just leave. I mean, I'm not going to tell you anything and you're too concerned about your guild's reputation, and frankly I think you're too good a person, to kill or torture me. And," Anise moved to speak, but was quickly cut off, "Jailing is just as bad. So, since I'm not giving you any information, and you're not taking any, there's no reason I shouldn't leave. Simple logic," the vendor smirked.

Before Anise could say anything, the vendor had gotten up and left the room. Dammit!

* * *

"Ah…Did it not go well?" Elize asked. She'd looked a little phased at the interruption, but had managed to reorganize all the reports on the desk that had shifted.

In many ways, her adoptive sister was weird. She didn't talk much, and was often shy around others. When they'd first met, she used to stutter, but she'd been with Yeager a year longer than Anise had been, and apparently she'd been worse before Anise was there. But, in the two years she'd been at the Mansion of the Wicked, she'd lost most of the stutter, although she was still very quiet, and often didn't speak unless spoken to, or unless something seemed obviously wrong (like now). Even when she did speak, it was abnormally formal, and it had stayed that way regardless of how much her and Yeager had talked to Elize about it.

Eventually they'd just given up and trusted that if anything was really wrong, Elize would trust them enough to talk about it.

Which was the problem. If there was one thing Elize was more terrible at than speaking less formally, it was talking about how she really felt. When something was really wrong, she'd tuck that doll she brought with her (Tipo, or something. Anise wasn't sure, but for some reason that doll _freaked her out_.) She wouldn't, she almost refused to, talk about her problems directly. Thankfully, Anise and Yeager had been observant enough to care for her accordingly, and she'd helped them out a great deal in turn. As quiet as she was, and as terrible as her writing had first been, Elize was an incredibly fast learner and had been quick to take over logistics for the guild. She was good, too.

And, most importantly, she seemed to enjoy her time with the guild.

But, secretly, sometimes, Anise wondered if Elize had somewhere she wanted to go home to, too. She'd never asked her directly, and she doubted she'd get a response if she did, but she had to come from _somewhere_.

Anise sighed, slinking into a nearby chair. "It went _terribly_. He wouldn't answer _anything_, and ended up just walking out!" She huffed angrily. She could see Elize hugging her stuffed animal out of the corner of her eyes, and she almost wish she had Tokunaga. Well, she did _have _Tokunaga, but it was shut up in a chest in a corner of her room. While Elize handled the finances, Anise handled the public and guild relations, and it was "improper for the public face of the guild to cling to a stuffed animal." Yeager had made an exception for Elize because Elize had almost needed her, even if Anise wasn't sure why.

"Um…did you at least get his name or…?" Crap. Come to think of it, she hadn't asked for his name. He probably wouldn't have answered, anyway.

"No, but…" Anise grinned mischeviously. Even if she hadn't gotten his name, she had gotten something, "I got this!" She proudly pulled an old necklace out of her pocket. It was ornate, and meant to spread across the chest. A red gem sparkled in the center. It looked valuable. "I don't know what this is, but it looks important, right?" Nobody got the best of Anise Tatlin. Nobody.

"A-Anise! You can't just…" Elize didn't sound happy. She usually didn't, when Anise did these kinds of things.

"Don't worry about it! I'll return it…as soon as he tells me everything I want to know." This wasn't as bad as jailing him or anything else as he had suggested, but it did run the chance of hurting the guild's reputation. Not as bad and…it was for Florian, right? The guild was important to her, but if she had to choose between it and Florian…she wasn't sure.

* * *

Flynn was not having a good day.

The preparations for Ioder's coronation ceremony tomorrow weren't going well.

As commandant, it wasn't his concern if the bakers didn't get everything prepared in time, or if they suddenly had to switch performers because the previous had canceled when the otters that were supposed to provide backup had gotten sick (Flynn still wasn't sure about the otter part, but he wasn't the one who had arranged for the band in the first place). Not to mention that the heir to the Caelum family (Who had been raised away from Zaphias, for some reason that Flynn couldn't guess) was supposed to be coming tomorrow. But, those were other people's responsibilities; he was in charge of security.

But, when the bakers insisted that they'd have to have full access even when the ceremony was going on. Or, that he would have to be able to recognize the entertainment for the night, when even the staff didn't know who it would be yet. Not to mention, there was a small fiasco with the guest list, and so the knights guarding the ceremony would have to be on their guard who they let in. Security was his first priority, and if anything happened to Ioder, it fell on his head. Not that Flynn had wanted anything to happen to Ioder; he was every bit the perfect Emperor-in-the-Making.

Of course, when Flynn had to balance security duty along with relaying information between the major planning parties (He swore even _Natalia_ hadn't run him down this much), even Flynn had trouble keeping up with everything. He was so busy, in fact, that he didn't notice Lady Estellise.

"Flynn!" she shouted, wrapping him in a hug.

It took every bit of self-control he had to not jump back, "Lady Estellise! Good to see you." _Please let me go_, he silently added.

"You too," the princess grinned, and let go, mercifully. "Is everything going well?"

"Yes!" was his immediate response, followed soon by "everybody's busy preparing for tomorrow."

"They certainly do look busy," Estelle observed, "Did something go wrong this year, too?" she asked innocently. Estelle had lived in the castle for enough years, Flynn reasoned, to not expect everything to fall apart before a big event. There was too much to manage for something not to go wrong; at least the inner palace always managed to pull everything together by the time of the event. The Fabre manor, by contrast, had been a little more well-managed. But, they could always rely on the castle if something went wrong, and there were fewer people and things to manage, so it made since.

Flynn sighed, "The bakers are late again, and the performers canceled. But, that's as per usual. What brings you to the castle today?"

Estelle smiled, "Ra—I mean, Schwann, had a few last minute things to explain to Yuri about the security, because Brave Vesperia's working undercover. I don't believe anything that would happen that would require our help but..."

"Better safe than sorry," Flynn finished. Although he hoped nothing would happen, he wasn't foolish enough to assume that nothing would. But, the extra security certainly wouldn't hurt.

Flynn smiled at the princess at return, "I'm sure that if Brave Vesperia is helping, nothing will be able to stop the ceremony from running smoothly."

* * *

"Yuri! Estelle! There you guys are!" Karol ran to greet the two as they entered the inn. Behind them, dusk was starting to fall in the alleyways.

"Hey, Cap," Yuri ruffled Karol's hair, "Something happen?"

Karol practically jumped with excitement, "We got a job!"

Estelle glanced to Yuri before she spoke, frowning, "But, will it be okay to take a job with the ceremony tomorrow?"

Karol grinned again, "Yeah! I explained that to her, and she said that she'd pay us even if we didn't finish the mission today! Plus, all she wants us to do is go to the catacombs for something, so we'll be staying near the city!"

Yuri sighed, "Well, we can't very well turn down a mission, can we? Especially one so basic." Estelle nodded, relenting. She'd drag Yuri out of there if they ran too late. Besides, there was always the chance the person was in real trouble and...she just couldn't turn away from someone in need, could she?

Karol smiled, "Awesome! Judith should be with her now—Oh, there they are!"

Judith walked forward, leading the person behind her. She looked...serious...from what Yuri could tell, almost like a soldier. Her brown hair fell straight behind her back.

Judith gestured to their guest, and she walked forward.

"My name is Tear, and I," she paused, "I would like to ask for your help finding something."

* * *

Endnotes:

Part 1

If this story was less serious, Yeager's father's last name would have been von Karma. And his first name would have been Zeppelin. And Yeager would have had a thing for Cravats. But this story is relatively serious, so no go.

Part 2

So, Elize is Elise Lutus from Tales of Xillia. If you're not sure who that is, run a quick google search on "Elise Lutus" and something should pop up (I can't link directly.) If you're worried about spoilers, please don't be. Elize isn't nearly as important as Anise in the story, and everything I write that may even tangentially concern her will be information you can get from trailers/the instruction manual, and I super-definitely won't spoil any lategame twists. If I absolutely, _absolutely_, can't get away without writing spoilers, I'll give a warning and put some sort of protection (Either it'll be at the end where you won't have to read, or you'll be able to ctrl+f to the part that's non-spoilery). Elise's localized name is Elize, so in the interests of keeping this relevant to people who will be playing the localization this fic will stick with that (Also Tipo is Teepo and that's almost painful to type. Anise was only messing up on the name).

Also! The necklace is important for plot reasons later in the story. It's appeared in relation to a major character in a Tales game before, but I'm not telling who ;D. If you can guess who the vendor is, that's a major (albeit a bit tricky) hint. Actually, if you can guess who the vendor is, I'd be pretty impressed too, but I might've made it a bit _too _obvious. Have at!

Part 3

The only real secret here is who the "Secret noble" is but he'll be revealed next chapter. I didn't drop any physical details but if you google translate "Caelum" that might give you a hint. Maybe. I promise it'll be somebody you can enjoy.

Part 4

Tear! :D

Next time on Tales of Harmonia: Tear and Brave Vesperia go cave hunting, and the Coronation Ceremony happens (shit goes down).


End file.
